Some players who expected John Marston to lead Red Dead Redemption 2 say Arthur Morgan became their favorite instead. A few even describe not wanting to leave Arthur when the story shifts back to John in the epilogue. Those are individual fan reactions, not evidence that players generally prefer Arthur: other fans still favor John or welcomed a different protagonist.
Why some fans expected John to be the lead
John Marston was the central character of the first Red Dead Redemption, so it was natural for returning players to expect him to lead its prequel. But Red Dead Redemption 2 tells much of its story through Arthur Morgan, another member of Dutch van der Linde’s gang.
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Xbox Wire’s 2018 introduction to the gang describes Arthur as Dutch’s dependable enforcer: sharp, cool-headed, and guided by his own sense of honor. It describes John as a former orphaned street kid taken in by Dutch, shrewd, fearless, and strong-willed. The article calls them Dutch’s “proudest protégés,” presenting them as closely connected figures rather than rivals in an official ranking of popularity. Xbox Wire’s character introduction establishes their backgrounds, not which one players should prefer.
How Arthur won over some players
In a Reddit discussion asking whether players were disappointed that John would not be the main character, some respondents recalled wanting John at first and then becoming more attached to Arthur as they played. One commenter described the change especially starkly: after Chapter 6, they no longer wanted to play as John. A release-period discussion on the RDR2.org forums includes a similar reversal from a player who had expected John to be more interesting.
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One explanation fans give is the experience of following Arthur’s story and seeing how his relationship with the gang develops. In a Steam discussion comparing Arthur and John, one player who had liked John in the first game said Arthur seemed to have more character development. That is a personal reading of the story, not an objective measure: players can value different parts of the two characters’ arcs.
Why the preference is still divided
Starting with a favorite and ending with a favorite are different questions. Some returning players began with an attachment to John from the first game; some newcomers encountered Arthur first in RDR2. The prequel also lets players see John’s earlier life through the gang and Arthur’s perspective. Those factors can shape a comparison, but they do not settle it.
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The same Reddit and forum discussions include people who continued to prefer John, as well as players who were happy to meet a new protagonist. Voice performance and perceived character development also come up in fan comparisons, but the discussions do not establish a winner. These threads are anecdotal, and there is no measured figure here for how many players changed their minds or which character is more popular.
Some fans try to keep playing as Arthur
A Steam post from April 2025 offers a narrow example of how strongly some players want to keep Arthur in the picture: after completing the epilogue, one player used a mod to switch to Arthur and then asked how to switch back to John. Replies discussed a model changer and warned that saving and reloading could restore the character assigned to that chapter. This is a single user discussion, not evidence that character-swapping is common. The mod advice is user-generated, so check the tool and its current instructions before attempting anything; the thread does not provide a verified, general-purpose method.
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What the fan reaction does—and doesn’t—show
- Some players expected John to lead RDR2 and later found themselves more invested in Arthur.
- Some did not want to leave Arthur when the epilogue returned control to John.
- Other fans still prefer John or welcomed the change in protagonist.
- Fan discussions show individual reactions, not a representative poll or a reliable popularity ranking.
The clearest story is not that Arthur has replaced John for Red Dead players as a whole. It is that the prequel gave some fans a new favorite without erasing the attachment others still have to its original lead.
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